Fluidized sand trap ejector

ABSTRACT

An ejector for a sand trap for sanding track rails by eduction. A sand chamber has an inlet through which sand may be continuously fed as by gravity, and an outlet connected by a tubular casing to the upper end of a sand delivery pipe to the track rail. The exterior of the tubular casing is threaded and there is a longitudinally disposed elongated opening therein. A sand metering device, in the form of a sleeve with a plurality of tapped apertures therein, is threaded upon the tubular casing. A check valve has a threaded neck selectively threaded into one of said tapped apertures and inserted into said elongated opening. A nozzle connected to an air pressure supply is located above the upper end of the sand delivery pipe.

[451 July 18, 1972 United States Patent Bente [5 FLUIDIZED SAND TRAP EJECTOR 2,321,483 6/1943 3 123 386 3/1964 Frantz [72] inventor: Waldama Bente, 314 Miller Ave.,

Dennison, Ohio 4462] 3,527,325 9/1970 Nolan et a1.

Dec. 16, 1970 3,617,079 11/1971 [22] Filed:

Primary Examiner-Arthur L. La Pointv 1 1 pp 98,636 Assistant Examiner-Howard Beltran Attorney-Picase & Bishop [52] US. Cl. 291/11 R, 291/13 ABSTRACT An ejector for a sand trap for sandin A sand chamber has an inlet throu tinuously fed as by gravity, and an lar casing to the upper end of a s .B60b 39/08, B610 15/10, 865g 53/54 [51] Int.

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9 mmn m m 8 Ht U C U r S V..l.l a C tU C .H g n wm m am e m n mm a w Wmd d rd e r. b t eautm w km mmm m mma k w rn .W. 0 wk C Wmm W Mm m wud g U 801. h u n 8 0 odid m Maw d arla n rail. The exterior of the tubular a longitudinally disposed elong metering device, in the form tapped apertures therein, is th A check valve has a threaded neck s one of said tapped apertures and inserted int opening. A nozzle connected to an air pressure supply is located above the upper end of the sand delivery pipe.

1,404,904 1/1922 Spencer.............. 1,735,097 11/1929 Vissering...............l 2,097,852 11/1937 Wright et a]. 2,256,289

9/1941 Canetta 7 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures -I!!!llllllllllllllfiiivr Patented July 18, 1972 I liza V /wav ATTORHJYS FLUIDIZED SAND TRAP EJECTOR CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is an improvement upon by copending application Ser. No. 883,832,'filed Dec. 10, 1969, now US Pat. No. 3,617,079, issued Nov. 2, 1971, which is a continuationin-part of my now abandoned application Ser. No. 841,397, filedJuly 14,1969.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1'. Field of the Invention The invention relates to ejectors for sand traps for delivering sand under air pressure to track rails to provide efficient wheel traction of a locomotive or the like.

2. Description of the Prior Art So far as applicant is aware, all sand trap ejectors heretofore proposed for use upon railroad locomotives for delivering sand to the track rails, except applicants aforesaid applications, have ejected the sand from the sand trap by means of compressed air connected to a nozzle located within the sand trap chamber.

Furthermore, it is not known that any such sand trap ejector heretofore proposed contained the construction of metering device and combined atmospheric air inlet and check valve to which the present invention pertains.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention may be briefly described in general terms as comprising a sand chamber with a sand inlet at its top and a sand outlet at one side communicating through a tubular casing with a downwardly directed sand delivery pipe.

A downwardly directed air nozzle is located at the intersection of said tubular casing with the upper end of the sand delivery pipe. An air pressure pipe with a valve therein is connected to the air nozzle.

A combined metering device and atmospheric air inlet and check valve are associated with said tubular casing. To this end the-portion of the tubular casing adjacent to the sand trap chamber is provided with exterior screw threads and a longitudinally disposed elongated opening is formed in said portion of the tubular casing.

A tubular sleeve with internal screw threads is threaded upon said portion of the tubular casing. This sleeve has a plurality of trapped apertures formed therein and located in a vertical plane disposed transversely of said sleeve.

A normally open check valve is provided with a screw threaded neck threaded into one of said tapped apertures and extending into the elongated opening in the tubular casing for normally admitting atmospheric air thereto.

With the sand chamber being continuously filled with sand by gravity, when the air pressure valve in the cab is opened, the air jet from the nozzle will create a partial vacuum in the upper end of the sand delivery pipe. This will cause air at atmospheric pressure to pass through the atmospheric air inlet into the tubular casing forcing or sucking sand from the sand chamber into the sand delivery pipe where it is picked up by the air jet from the nozzle and delivered to the track rail.

In the event the outlet end of the sand delivery pipe may become clogged as by dirt, or wet or frozen sand, or other obstruction, the air pressure from the air jet will back up into the tubular casing and close the check valve. The air pressure will thereby build up within the tubular casing and sand delivery pipe and will force the obstruction from the outlet end of the sand delivery pipe at which time the check valve will automatically open by gravity and sand may be delivered to the track rail;

In order to meter the sand, the threaded neck of the check valve is removed from the tapped aperture in which it is located and the tubular sleeve is turned upon the threads of the tubular casing to bring another of the tapped apertures into register with the elongated opening therein.

At this time the threaded neck of the check valve is threaded into this tapped aperture and inserted into the elongated opening. To increase the amount of sand delivered through the sand delivery pipe, the threaded metering sleeve is moved toward the sane chamber and to decrease the amount of sand, it is moved away from the sand chamber.

It is an object of the invention to provide a sand trap ejector in which a tubular casing connects the outlet from the sand chamber to the upper end of the sand delivery pipe and is provided with a longitudinally disposed elongated opening, and in which a combined sand metering, atmospheric air inlet and check valve is provided,'including a metering sleeve upon said tubular casing and movable toward and from the sand chamber to increase or decrease the amount of sand delivered to the sand delivery pipe.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sand trap ejector of the character referred to in which the metering sleeve is threaded upon the tubular casing and the combined atmospheric air inlet and check valve has a neck inserted through an aperture in said metering sleeve and into said elongated opening.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a sand trap ejector in'which the metering sleeve has a plurality of apertures into which the neck of the combined atmospheric air inlet and check valve may be selectively inserted.

These and other objects, apparent from the drawings and following description, may be attained, the above described difficulties overcome and the advantages and results obtained,

by the apparatus, construction, arrangement, method, steps,

procedures, modes of operation, and combinations, subcombinations and parts which comprise the present invention, a preferred embodiment of whichillustrative of the best mode in which applicant has contemplated applying the principleare set forth in detail in the following description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view through a sand trap ejector embodying the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view on the line 22, FIG.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now more particularly to the embodiment of the invention illustrated, a sand chamber 1 is shown enclosed within the T-cross 2. A sand inlet 3 at the top of the sand chamber may be screw threaded as at 4 to receive the threaded end of an upright pipe 5 which leads to an overhead sand reservoir (not shown) by means of which the sand chamber 1 is continuously filled with sand by gravity. The sand piles up in the sand chamber 1 as indicated by the broken line 6.

The T-cross 2 may have internal screw threads 7 at one end for receiving the threaded clean-out plug 8. At the outlet end of the sand chamber 1, the T-cross 2 may be provided with internal screw threads 9 which may receive one threaded end '10 of the tubular casing 11.

The other end 12 of the tubular casing 11 may be threaded and received in the internally threadecl end 13 of a coupling indicated generally at 14 which may be located at any reasonable distance from the sand chamber 1.

This coupling is shown in the general form of a T-cross, the downwardly disposed outlet end of which may be internally threaded as at 15 to receive the threaded upper end of the sand delivery pipe 16 which leads to the track rail to be sanded.

As shown in my copending application above referred to, an upright lip 17 may be formed within the coupling 14, adjacent to the upper end of the sand delivery pipe 16 for the purpose of preventing sand from the sand chamber 1 from accidentally spilling into the sand deliverY pipe 16 due to motion of the locomotive upon which the sand trap ejector is mounted.

The downwardly disposed air nozzle 118 is located in the top of the coupling 14 and may have the copper bushing 19 therein. The upper end of the coupling 14 is shown as internally threaded at to receive the threaded lower end 21 'f the air nozzle 18.

An elbow 22 is shown with one end threaded into the tapped bore 23 of the nozzle. A choke pipe 24 with extremely small bore 25 has one end threaded into the other end of the elbow 22 as indicated at 26. The other end of the choke pipe 24 may be threaded into an adapter 27 which is threaded into one end of the valve 28. An air pressure pipe 29 is connected to the other side of the valve 28 through an adapter 30 and leads to any suitable source of air under pressure (not shown).

The valve 28 is provided for controlling the air pressure admitted through the choke pipe 24 to the nozzle 18 or for shutting it off entirely. The usual air pressure valve controlled from the locomotive cab is located in the pipe 29 upstream from the valve 28 as in ordinary practice, and is not shown.

The above described structure is shown in my copending application Ser. No. 883,832, now US. Pat. No. 3,617,079. The improvement upon said structure comprises a combined metering device, atmospheric ,air inlet and check valve, to which the present invention pertains.

A longitudinally disposed elongated opening 31 is formed in the tubular casing 11. A metering sleeve 32 surrounds the tubular casing 11 and is longitudinally movable thereon. A housing, indicated at 33, for a combined atmospheric air inlet 34 and check valve 35 is provided with a threaded bottom neck 36 located through a tapped bore 37 in the metering sleeve 32 and extending through the elongated opening 31 in the tubular casing 11. Atmospheric air enters the tubular casing 11 through the inlet 34, neck 36, and elongated opening 31.

For the purpose of moving the metering sleeve 32 longitudinally upon the tubular casing 11, it may be threaded thereon as indicated at 38. In order to move the metering sleeve 32, the threaded neck 36 of the atmospheric air inlet and check valve housing 33 must first be removed from the tapped aperture 37 in which it is located. A wrench may then be used upon the hexagonal flange 39 of the metering sleeve 32 to rotate the same.

For the purpose of closely calibrating the adjustment of the metering sleeve 32, a plurality of tapped apertures 37 may be provided around the same and when any desired aperture 33 is brought into register with the elongated opening 31 of the tubular casing 11, the threaded neck 36 of the air inlet and check valve housing 33 may be inserted therein and into the elongated opening 31. The sand trap ejector is again in condition to operate to deliver either an increased or decreased amount of sand through the sand delivery pipe 16 depending upon whether the metering sleeve 32 has been moved toward or away from the sand chamber 1.

OPERATION In the operation of the improved sand trap ejector, it should be understood that the valve 28 remains at least partially open at all times unless it is desired to take the sander out of service, at which time this valve will be closed. Air pressure to the pipe 29 is controlled as in ordinary practice by a valve (not shown) in the cab of the locomotive.

When it is desired to deliver sand to the track rail, this valve in the cab is opened to send a blast of compressed air from the nozzle 18 through the sand delivery pipe 16.

This creates a partial vacuum at the top of the sand delivery pipe 16, drawing atmospheric air through the inlet 34, neck 36, and elongated opening 31 into the tubular casing 11 forcing or sucking sand from the sand chamber 1 into the sand delivery pipe 16 where the air jet from the nozzle 18 will deliver the sand to the track rail. The valve 28 may be regulated to control the force of the air jet through the nozzle 18.

In the event that the outlet end of the sand delivery pipe 16 may be clogged with dirt, moist or frozen sand, or other obstruction, the air pressure from the air nozzle 18 will back up into the tubular chamber 11 and through the neck 36 into the housing 33 closing the check valve 35. Air pressure will then build up within the tubular chamber 11 and sand delivery pipe and will force the obstruction from the outlet end of the sand delivery pipe at which time the check valve will automatically open by gravity and sand may be delivered to the track rail.

If it is desired to increase the amount of sand being delivered to the track rail, the neck 36 of the atmospheric air inlet and check valve housing 33 will be removed from the tapped bore 37 in which it is located so that the metering sleeve 32 may be screwed toward the sand chamber 1 until another tapped bore 37 registers with the elongated opening 31 at which time the neck 36 of the housing .33 may be inserted therein and into the elongated opening 31.

Then by operating the sand trap ejector in the manner above described, an increased amount of sand will be delivered through the sand delivery pipe 16 to the track rail. In like manner, by moving the metering sleeve 32 away from the sand chamber, a less amount of sand may be delivered to the track rail.

It should be understood that in each adjustment of the sleeve 32 it is necessary that the threaded neck 36 be located entirely through the proper tapped bore 37 of the sleeve and into the elongated opening 31 in the tubular casing 11 so as to lock the sleeve 32 against movement relative to the casing 11.

In the foregoing description, certain terms have been used for brevity, cleamess and understanding, but no unnecessary limitations are to be implied therefrom beyond the requirements of the prior art, because such terms are used for descriptive purposes herein and are intended to be broadly construed.

Moreover, the embodiment of the improved construction illustrated and described herein is by way of example, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to the exact details of construction.

Having now described the invention or discovery, the construction, operation, and use of the preferred embodiment thereof, and the advantageous, new and useful results obtained thereby; the new and useful construction, and reasonable mechanical equivalents thereof obvious to those skilled in the art, are set forth in the disclosure.

Iclaim:

l. A sand trap ejector including walls enclosing a sand chamber, a sand inlet to the sand chamber, a sand outlet at one side there of, a tubular casing communicating at one end with said outlet, a sand delivery pipe communicating with the other end of said tubular casing, an air nozzle at the upper end of the sand delivery pipe, an air pressure pipe connected to said nozzle, there being a longitudinally disposed elongated opening in said tubular casing, a metering sleeve movable longitudinally on said tubular casing, there being an aperture in said sleeve communicating with said elongated opening, a housing having an atmospheric air passage therein communicating with said aperture, a normally open check valve in said housing, and means for moving said metering sleeve toward and from the sand chamber for increasing and decreasing the amount of sand delivered to the sand delivery pipe.

2. A sand trap ejector as defined in claim 1 in which there is a hollow neck upon said housing communicating with said atmospheric air passage and detachably connected to said aperture and communicating with said elongated opening.

3. A sand trap ejector as defined in claim 2 in which there are a plurality of said apertures in the metering sleeve and said neck is selectively detachably connectable with any of said apertures.

4. A sand trap ejector as defined in claim 2 in which said neck is threaded in said aperture.

5. A sand trap ejector as defined in claim 1 in which the metering sleeve is threaded upon the tubular casing.

6. A sand trap ejector as defined in claim 5 in which there are a plurality of said apertures in the metering sleeve and said neck is selectively detachably connectable with any of said apertures.

7. A sand trap ejector as defined in claim 1 in which the metering sleeve is threaded upon the tubular casing and in which "um: n4

there is a hollow neck upon said housing communicating with said atmospheric air passage and detachably connected to said aperture and communicating with said elongated opening. 

1. A sand trap ejector including walls enclosing a sand chamber, a sand inlet to the sand chamber, a sand outlet at one side there of, a tubular casing communicating at one end with said outlet, a sand delivery pipe communicating with the other end of said tubular casing, an air nozzle at the upper end of the sand delivery pipe, an air pressure pipe connected to said nozzle, there being a longitudinally disposed elongated opening in said tubular casing, a metering sleeve movable Longitudinally on said tubular casing, there being an aperture in said sleeve communicating with said elongated opening, a housing having an atmospheric air passage therein communicating with said aperture, a normally open check valve in said housing, and means for moving said metering sleeve toward and from the sand chamber for increasing and decreasing the amount of sand delivered to the sand delivery pipe.
 2. A sand trap ejector as defined in claim 1 in which there is a hollow neck upon said housing communicating with said atmospheric air passage and detachably connected to said aperture and communicating with said elongated opening.
 3. A sand trap ejector as defined in claim 2 in which there are a plurality of said apertures in the metering sleeve and said neck is selectively detachably connectable with any of said apertures.
 4. A sand trap ejector as defined in claim 2 in which said neck is threaded in said aperture.
 5. A sand trap ejector as defined in claim 1 in which the metering sleeve is threaded upon the tubular casing.
 6. A sand trap ejector as defined in claim 5 in which there are a plurality of said apertures in the metering sleeve and said neck is selectively detachably connectable with any of said apertures.
 7. A sand trap ejector as defined in claim 1 in which the metering sleeve is threaded upon the tubular casing and in which there is a hollow neck upon said housing communicating with said atmospheric air passage and detachably connected to said aperture and communicating with said elongated opening. 